Hurricane Bill in Acadia

Most of you probably heard a little bit about Hurricane Bill as it moved up parts of the east coast this weekend. When we heard that the hurricane was going to skirt the Maine coast, but still produce up to 17 foot waves around Acadia National Park we decided that we wanted to see it. So on Sunday we headed up to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park to wittness the waves at Thunder Hole (a place in the park where waves crash into a cavern producing a thunder sound). I have to admit that as we drove across the bridge into Bar Harbor I was disappointed. The water was totally calm and I began to figure that we would just spend a relaxing day hiking in the park (versus watching giant waves at Thunder Hole). Little did I know. As we began driving through the park (where the coast stretches out into open ocean) it became obvious that the waves breaking were quite big. It was also quite obvious that lots of other people had the same idea as us. The park loop road leading up to Thunder Hole was packed. This is a one way road (with two lanes) and most of the right lane was filled with parked cars (which is allowed). So pretty early on we decided to just park our car and walk the trail along the coast to Thunder Hole (which is what most people were doing).

Here's Joe and Lily checking out the waves as we walked along the coastal trail. The waves were pretty big here, but we decided to walk a little further.

Here's us walking along the trail (the ocean is to the left and as you can see the packed road is to the right).

Long before Thunder Hole we found a great place (high up) where we could enjoy watching the giant waves.

Later Joe would say that the waves that afternoon were the biggest he's ever seen. Reports say that they were 10-20feet high. As they broke on the rocks we could see them spray close to 100 feet over Otter Cliffs (were we do a lot of rock climbing).

We were close enough to have some incredible views of the GIANT waves (and to feel a little spray a couple of times)- but still high enough to be safe (don't worry grandparents, we were very cautious with Lily).

Shortly after these pictures were taken we decided that it looked way too crowded at Thunder Hole (from what we could see) so we decided instead to head back to our car and to just drive further down the coast to get some different views. Right as we started walking we began hearing sirens and shortly after we began seeing the first waves of park rangers, police officers, and ambulances. We heard from people passing by that 3 people had been swept into the water. It was obvious with the crowds and the crazy traffic that the rescue vehicles were having a very difficult time getting through (due to all the parked cars there was only one lane of moving traffic and it was going very slow- with no room to pull over for the police to pass). By the time we got back to our car it was obvious that they had closed off the park loop road to incoming traffic and it had been a while since more rescue vehicles had come through. So we decided to do what many others were doing which was to get in our car and try to leave the area. We had only driven for a minute or two when we were directed by officials with walkie talkies that we needed to clear the road so that they could get more ambulances through.

The cars in front of us took the last few real places to park and we were instructed to park next to another parked car (and behind one of the park trollies). In the above picture our Saturn is the vehicle furthest to the right. You can clearly see how crazy it was with all of the cars and people.

Here's another view of us parked behind the trolly. As instructed we did the best we could to get out of the way and we were as far over as we could possibly get. But apparently not far enough. Shortly after parking our car (and turning it off) an ambulance came through (while we were still in our car) and side swiped the entire length of our car (and snapped our side mirror). I sat there in shock as it happened. And then initially I got quite angry. When the ambulance broke our mirror it shattered and pieces of it flew into our car through the open window. I can understand that the ambulance driver was quite frustrated, but I felt like we did everything we were told to do and that they just created and even worse situation (and a potentially dangerous one). We were fine and although there was damage done to our car it wasn't as bad as it initially sounded. I think that the people around us were as equally shocked as us. Shortly after they moved everyone off to the other side of the road which allowed further ambulances to get through without a problem (this is what they should have done in the first place).

We were told that it would be about 30-45minutes that we would have to wait before we could leave. Here's one of the waves that was breaking while we were waiting.

As frustrated as I was initially about our car our attention was quickly diverted as we realized that 3 people were in still in the water close to where we were. In fact, we could see two of the people in the water waving their arms. We watched as two coast guard ships (above) arrived in the area and we listened as rescue workers practically right next to us (with binoculars) directed the ship to the people in the water.

Along with the crowds we watched in anticipation as one of the ships rescued three people from the water. Clapping and cheers rose from everybody watching and I have to admit that I teared up a bit watching it all unfold.

Shortly after the rescue we were allowed to leave the park. Relieved we headed into Bar Harbor to grab some lunch and to report the accident to the Bar Harbor Police Department. As you can imagine they really had their hands full and there were no officers to help us. So we filled out a police report and headed home. All the way home Lily kept asking, "What happened to my car, daddy?" All we could say was that it was hit by an ambulance (not something most people can say).

As we drove home we were once again amazed at how calm the waters around us seemed (in such stark contrast to the waves crashing into Acadia National Park). We believed there had been a happy ending (and even Lily talked about how the boats rescued the people from the water). We didn't find out until much later that night, as our little girl was safely asleep in her bed, that one of the people pulled from the water (a 7 year old little girl) had died.

We would later find out that a large wave had crashed over a group of 20 people that gathered on some lower rocks near Thunder Hole. Seven people had been washed out into the water. Four of those people managed to get out of the water themselves and the three others were washed out into the ocean (including the little girl, her father, and a 12 year old girl). In addition to these three people eleven others were taken to the hospital for less serious injuries (mostly broken bones and cuts from being thrown into the rocks when the wave hit).

We are still waiting to get all of the insurance/accident information cleared up with the ambulance that hit us. But really that seems pretty minor. Joe and I are heartbroken for the family of the little girl that didn't survive. It sure made me hold my little girl a little tighter and kiss her a few more times yesterday.

A little more adventure than we bargained for.